Turnitin Advice for Staff

Turnitin Advice for Students

Information and Advice for Staff

Queen’s University subscribes to an electronic originality checking service, provided by iparadigms called TurnitinUK.

This is an online service which does not require any additional software to be installed on your PC. It contains a database of 45 billion + websites, online articles (including archived material) and student work against which draft and/or final student assignments may be compared. Similarities are matched and academic judgement must then be used to interpret whether the matches in the similarity report are appropriate (properly quoted and cited, or an established term) or inappropriate (inadequately paraphrased not adequately cited).

What can TurnitinUK do?

Matches a student’s text with:

Current websites.

Archived websites.

Content from publishers with whom it has partnership agreements.

Other student content which has been submitted to the TurnitinUK database (95% colleges and universities in the UK subscribe to this service).

Saves time.

Acts as a deterrent against plagiarism.

Can be used as an educational tool to illustrate to students any inadequacies in their approach to paraphrasing and citing.

What can TurnitinUK not do?

Will not match a student’s text with:

Material which is not available online (eg most textbooks).

Online books and journals to which it does not have an access agreement.

Student content which has been submitted to databases from detection software other than TurnitinUK.

‘Original’ essays purchased from essay banks/auction sites etc.

Make a judgement as to whether plagiarism has taken place.

Please look at the following information and advice which may help you with a range of Turnitin queries.

How do I set up Queen's TurnitinUK account?

Please contact elearning@qub.ac.uk. Send the email from your Queen's account, state your job role and School. Please state if you will be using Turnitin for UG & PGT programmes, or whether you will be using it for PGR supervision, or a combination of both uses.

I have a Queen's TurnitinUK account but have forgotten how to access it

Go to http://www.turnitinuk.com . Your Turnitin username will be your Queen's email address. You can use the Reset password link to reset the password. This video will show you how to reset your password.

How to set up Turnitin for Undergraduate or Post-graduate Taught Modules

I want to use Turnitin Originality Check formatively in my Undergraduate or Post-graduate Taught Modules what do I need to do?

Speak to the relevant programme co-ordinator and the Director of Education in your School to ensure that you are adhering to School practice and procedures regarding the use of Turnitin.

How to set up Turnitin for a PhD student

For PhD students, you will need to make a "class" for an individual student.

Turnitin submissions are organised into "Classes" but PhD students all start, finish and submit drafts at different times. Within the PGR set up, a "Class" as it is called in Turnitin acts as a folder which will neatly contain all the submissions from a particular student. Taking 1 or 2 minutes to set up a class will make it easy to navigate to those scripts in the future. You are expected to discuss the report with the student. With one supervisee per class, you can open the submissions with the student alongside you and avoid all risk of displaying information about other students.

What is the Class ID and password?

When you create a class you assign a password (also called a "key") to it. As the class is generated so is the class ID. Once the class has been made it is possible to locate the information within the system. The class ID is listed to the left of the class name and the password can be seen when you edit the class details. Watch this video to see this in detail.

The originality report

It can take several hours for the Originality report to be generated for a very large file. Originality reports for the first upload of most undergraduate assignments will come through within 10 minutes (don't forget to refresh the screen: F5). If you don't see a report after waiting several hours check the settings for the assignment. The following video goes through the settings needed to generate a report immediately or at the deadline, and how to set it so the student(s) can see it. (n.b. if you have allowed multiple submissions to the same assignment, for an additional upload the student will have to wait 24hrs to get an originality report. Therefore students who upload a second time before the first report has generated automatically have to wait 24 hours).

How can I lock a student submission?

If you come across a submission you think contains plagiarism, or if you see a student user whom you do not recognise in the class student list, it is possible to lock the student out of the class but for you to maintain access to the submission. This video gives further details.

Turnitin status

Information and Advice for Students

Undergraduate and Post Graduate Taught Assignments

Procedures around the use of Turnitin at UG and PGT level are set by your School and you should look for information in Programme and Module handbooks, Queen's Online and lecture materials to find out more about how (or if) it is being used in your degree programme.

Turnitin is set up for you by your School, in some cases by staff in the School Office in other cases by module co-ordinators.

Submission settings, Class IDs and passwords, deadlines and requirements are all under the control of their creator. Therefore this is the person you should contact if you have a query about the settings.

Post Graduate Research Students

For PGR students, use of Turnitin should follow the regulation (PGR 7.1.5) and be in accordance with the Guidelines. Under the regulation, Turnitin should be set up by your supervisor.

Submission settings, Class IDs and passwords, deadlines and requirements are all under the control of their creator. Therefore this is the person you should contact if you have a query about the settings.

Please look at the following information and advice which may help you with a range of Turnitin queries.

I do not have a TurnitinUK account

If you have been given a Class ID and Password, you can use this information to set up a Turnitin account. Please watch this video for further details.

If you do not have the Class ID and Password, please contact your tutor.

Turnitin does not recognise my user details or the enrollment information (Class ID and Key)

Check that you have accessed the Turnitin UK site http://www.turnitinuk.com and not the USA site (which does not have "uk" in the domain name).

Turnitin is case-sensitive, please check that you have used capitals where provided.

Check that you have typed any zeros as numbers rather than the letter O and the number one as 1 rather than the letter I.

I cannot remember my username and password

Your Turnitin username is your Queen's email address. Use the Reset Password button to reset your password. If you are from English, GAP or Social Work you should type your Student Number in the surname field. Please watch this video on how to reset your password.

Enrollment on a Turnitin "class"

I have received an email telling me I have been enrolled in a Turnitin Class and asking would I like to create a password what should I do?

You should click on the link to create the password. You will be asked for your email address - you MUST use the email address to which the email was sent.

You will then be asked for your last name.

Look at the email you received from Turnitin. What does it show in this position? Enter this name as it is written. For those in Social Work and Natural and Built Environment, it might be your student number. If it is, enter your student number in the last name field.

I have been given a Class ID and Password and I already have a Turnitin account. How do I enrol in the class?

Log in to Turnitin www.turnitinuk.com. Click the Enroll in a Class tab and complete the enrolment form.

Uploading and assignment

Problems uploading an assignment

Check the Start date for the assignment, perhaps it has not opened yet. Most assignments will be set to allow late submissions. If the Due date has passed and you cannot submit contact your School Office or Module Co-ordinator. PGR students should contact their supervisor.

File size limit

If "allow any file type" has been selected any file of less than 20MB and under 400 pages in length can be submitted. The paper submitted must contain more than 20 words and must not contain spaces in between every letter.

I have uploaded an assignment. How long will it be before I see the originality report?

It will generally take less than one hour for a 2,000-word document and around 4 hours for a 200-page document. These figures are for a first upload to any assignment. If you are allowed to resubmit to the same assignment, then on the second and subsequent uploads it will take 24 hours before you can view a revised report.

If the originality report is not available

The Inbox says that the Similarity/Originality report is not available and when I mouse-over the wording it says that my instructor has chosen not to make it available, but the module co-ordinator told me to look at the report.

In some modules, students will not have access to the originality report and so this will be normal practice. Check the information you have been given in QOL, lectures, handbooks etc. If it is definite that the module co-ordinator/ tutor has told you to view the originality report and it has been set as unavailable to students, then (and only then) you should contact the module co-ordinator and bring this to their attention.

I have submitted the assignment to the wrong class. What should I do?

You are asked to confirm and check the text of the assignment during the upload process. Email the instructors of both classes and explain what you have done. Include: details of the class you have submitted to, your name and your student number, the title of the paper and the paper ID within the Turnitin system. You will also need to attach the submission receipts.

Other Turnitin advice

I have accessed Turnitin but cannot see all of the fields shown in the videos or slides provided by my school

If you are using an out of date browser, do not have pop-ups enabled for the Turnitin site, or do not have Turnitin added to your "trusted site"s you might experience a few running difficulties. Check the following system requirements to ensure that you are using a supported browser and have the correct settings.

In the Student Computer Centres Internet Explorer and Google Chrome report that there is a problem with www.turnitinuk.com's security certificate. What should I do?

You may choose the option to ignore the message and continue to the site. Or you can use the Firefox browser if you prefer.